Silverware Wind Chime – DIY Talent Songbird

With a tweet and a whistle and a song in her heart, our next DIY Talent Parade participant is gliding….wait, no make that flying down the street! Whoa, well, I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that this talented gal is part avian. That’s right, I have the beautiful and exotic (because she’s from the Netherlands,) Marianne also known to her readers as Songbird.

Marianne, is truly a sweet and graceful creature. And she loves to surround herself with beauty wherever she nests. I secretly dream of flying across the ocean to be a guest in her home one day.

Hi y’all I am Marianne and I normally blog over at Songbird where I share my adventures in DIY, crafting, decorating and most of all nesting. I am truly honored that Brittany thought I was worthy to be part of her DIY talent team. I’m not sure I have that much talent, but I sure have the will to try and learn just about anything.

But let’s start with the project of the day. I am here to show you how to make a wind chime out of thrifted silverware.

She’s cute isn’t she. And she isn’t that hard to make. You will need:

Random pieces of silverware including spoons and forks

Thin wire, thread, fishing wire

Needle nose pliers

Flat nose pliers

Metal punch

Drill and a small drill bit (for metal)

Optional: Beads and pearls for decoration

First you need to prepare your silverware for its new function.

Choose a nice big fork to function as the main ‘hanger’. With the flat nose pliers bend the tines. First to the front, back, front and back and then bend the two outer ones to the side (step 1 and 2). Go gently and keep moving the pliers up and down along the tine so it won’t break.

Then with the needle nose pliers bend the tips upwards (or downwards, your choice). Again be gentle and patient so the fork won’t break.

I did this with some smaller forks too, so I could make a second layer. But that will depend on the design you choose to make.

Spoons make the most beautiful sound, so be sure to include some spoons. I wanted to have flattened spoons and found it quite hard to flatten them with a hammer.

Well if you aren’t strong you’d better be clever. So I put my spoons in the wrench (or vise) and squished them flat that way. I used two pieces of a rubber from an inner bicycle tire to cover my wrench so my spoons wouldn’t get scratched too badly. Keep moving the spoon in the wrench until it is nice and flat.

The last step in this part is to drill the holes in your pieces of silverware. I found that punching a little dent first helped prevent the drill from slipping. Remember to use a drill bit for metal (thanks to my love for being my hand model here). If the edges of your holes are very rough, sand them smooth (mine didn’t need it).

And then the assembling can begin.

I dug through my stash of beads and jewelry supplies for the threads and wire and for the buttons and pearls. You can craft your little “heart” out here and go with any embellishments in any color setting you like. Try it out from time to time to see how it looks and if it all jingles nicely together.

The hardest part is making the knot to stay put in the fishing wire. I tried to take a picture of how I do it, but I didn’t have enough hands to do that. So I found these instructions for you:

Basically tie a little knot, then run one of the loose ends through the hoop twice and then tie another knot. This should secure it, but for extra safety you can put a little glue on the knot too.

And then assemble together, choose a nice spot for it and try to take non-blurry pictures while it dangles and tingles in the wind…

I hope you like my tutorial for how to make a silverware wind chime and you are all very welcome to visit me over at my place Songbird. And a very special Thank You to Brittany for making me part of this amazing series.

Oh how dreamy is that wind chime? I can almost hear it tinkling softly in the breeze. Thank you Marianne for that beautiful tutorial. I’ve always wanted to buy one of those silverware wind chimes at the art and craft fairs. Now I know I can make my own.

Be sure to head over to Songbird Blog to see some more romantic eye candy. And come back tomorrow for our last DIY Talent Parade tutorial. THEN, be sure to join up the end of the parade with your own talent on Friday!

Comments

One request–to make the photos more Pinterest-friendly, can you please consider shooting them with cleaner backgrounds? I wanted to pin one of the photos showing the full chime, but the busy background made it a non-starter for a Pinboard, so I went with the close-up which had a less distracting background.

I wondered about using thrifted silverware… Can I use just the inexpensive stuff I find? I’ve been afraid to use it for fear it wouldn’t flatten or bend the way I want it to… And I can’t find any nicer silverware for less $$$!

I would even recommend using the cheaper stuff, because there might be some waste if tines break. And that would hurt with the expensive ones.
I have tried using some genuine old silver forks and they turned out to be too brittle and broke all the time. The silverware that I used, looks old and beautiful but it is only silverplated.
Good luck with your wind chime.

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